On March 18, the judge Jesús Rafael Aragón granted an appeal to 4 of the 5 members of the Indigenous Me´phaa People´s Organization (OPIM), who have been incarcerated since April 17 of last year. Manuel Cruz Victoriano, Orlando Manzanarez Lorenzo, Natalio Ortega Cruz, y Romualdo Santiago Enedina were freed, while Raúl Hernández Abundio remains in jail.

The five human rights defenders were accused of killing Alejandro Feliciano García, an army informant, on January 1, 2008. In October of last year, the Eigth District judge in Acapulco granted an appeal, but it was overturned by the Attorney General´s office, without any new evidence.

According to the Human Rights Center of the Montaña Tlachinollan (CDHM Tlachinollan), “We are awaiting within the next few hours the confirmation of this appeal with the First Instance Judge of Ayutla, Alfredo Sánchez Sánchez, so that within 24 hours he will order the immediate release of the 4 indigenous persons from El Camalote who were adopted as perisoners of conscience by Amnesty International(AI).” The CDHM Tlachinollan has been defending the case of the 5 human rights defenders since they were first jailed.

The Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Montaña (CDHM, El Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan) released the following press release regarding the appeal granted to 4 of the 5 members of the Indiginous Me’phaa People’s Organization (OPIM, Organización del Pueblo Indígena Me’phaa):

The verdict was announced on 15th October in favour of four prisoners. One will remain in prison.

The prisoners who won the appeal should be freed by tomorrow, Tuesday 21st October.

The verdict demonstrates that the aim of the arrests was to put an end to their organised work

Tlapa, Guerrero, Mexico on October 20, 2008- The Eigth District judge based in Acapulco, Livia Lizabeth Larumbe Radilla, granted the appeal by four of the five members of the Indigenous Me’phaa People’s Organisation (Organización del Pueblo Indígena Me´phaa, OPIM). For six months they have been imprisoned in Ayutla jail, accused of the murder of an Army informer.

Following this verdict that was announced on 15th October, the First Instance Mixed judge in Ayutla, Alfredo Sánchez Sánchez, was notified on Friday 17th and he has 24 hours to release the accused indigenous men.

This would mean that tomorrow, 21st October, at the latest, the prisoners will be leaving the jail, except for Raúl Hernández Abundio, who will remain in prison because the District judge says that the witnesses claim that he was present when the gun that killed Alejandro Feliciano García was fired, on 1st January this year. However, this accusation is very vague. Read the rest of this entry »